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This module provides an introduction to the principles and concepts relevant to the software design. It examines the role and context of the design activity as a form of problem-solving process, describes how this is supported by current design methods, and considers the strategies, strengths, limitations, and main domains of application of these methods.

Introduction

Software design is a process of defining the architecture, components, interfaces, and other characteristics of a system or component and planning for a software solution. After the purpose and specifications of software is determined, software developers will design or employ designers to develop a plan for a solution.

A software design may be platform-independent or platform-specific, depending on the availability of the technology called for by the design.

Viewed as a process, software design is the software engineering life cycle activity in which software requirements are analyzed in order to produce a description of the software’s internal structure that will serve as the basis for its construction. More precisely, a software design (the result) must describe the software architecture and the interfaces between those components. It must also describe the components at a level of detail that enable their construction.

Software design plays an important role in developing software: it allows software engineers to produce various models that form a kind of blueprint of the solution to be implemented. We can analyze and evaluate these models to determine whether or not they will allow us to fulfill the various requirements. We can also examine and evaluate various alternative solutions and trade-offs. Finally, we can use the resulting models to plan the subsequent development activities, in addition to using them as input and the starting point of construction and testing.

In a standard listing of software life cycle processes such as IEEE/EIA 12207 Software Life Cycle Processes, software design consists of two activities that fit between software requirements analysis and software construction:

  • Software architectural design (sometimes called top-level design): describing software’s top-level structure and organization and identifying the various components.
  • Software detailed design: describing each component sufficiently to allow for its construction.

Concepts of software design

The concepts, notions, and terminology introduced here form an underlying basis for understanding the role and scope of software design.

General design concepts

Software is not the only field where design is involved. In the general sense, we can view design as a form of problem-solving. For example, the concept of a wicked problem–a problem with no definitive solution–is interesting in terms of understanding the limits of design. A number of other notions and concepts are also of interest in understanding design in its general sense: goals, constraints, alternatives, representations, and solutions.

Context of software design

To understand the role of software design, it is important to understand the context in which it fits, the software engineering life cycle. Thus, it is important to understand the major characteristics of software requirements analysis vs. software design vs. software construction vs. software testing.

Questions & Answers

what is the difference between C and C++.
Yan Reply
what is software
Sami Reply
software is a instructions like programs
Shambhu
what is the difference between C and C++.
Yan
yes, how?
Hayder
what is software engineering
Ahmad
software engineering is a the branch of computer science deals with the design,development, testing and maintenance of software applications.
Hayder
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Ahmad
Both software engineering and cybersecurity offer exciting career prospects, but your choice ultimately depends on your interests and skills. If you enjoy problem-solving, programming, and designing software syste
Hayder
what's software processes
Ntege Reply
I haven't started reading yet. by device (hardware) or for improving design Lol? Here. Requirement, Design, Implementation, Verification, Maintenance.
Vernon
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Vernon
it is all about designing,developing, testing, implementing and maintaining of software systems.
Ehenew
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Sami
My name M Sami I m 2nd year student
Sami
what is the specific IDE for flutter programs?
Mwami Reply
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usman
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Michael
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Subhan
Show the necessary steps with description in resource monitoring process (CPU,memory,disk and network)
samuel Reply
What is software engineering
Tafadzwa Reply
Software engineering is a branch of computer science directed to writing programs to develop Softwares that can drive or enable the functionality of some hardwares like phone , automobile and others
kelvin
if any requirement engineer is gathering requirements from client and after getting he/she Analyze them this process is called
Alqa Reply
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ALI
What is the command to list the contents of a directory in Unix and Unix-like operating systems
George Reply
how can i make my own software free of cost
Faizan Reply
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usman
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Hayder
The name of the author of our software engineering book is Ian Sommerville.
Doha Reply
what is software
Sampson Reply
the set of intruction given to the computer to perform a task
Noor
I want to know about prototype model in software engineering
Malli Reply
Prototype Model is a replica model. In this we plan and build a rough application. Further we launch it for users and if they give their feedback or need any enhancement then we add-on requested features as per the system/user requirements.
KUMAR

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Source:  OpenStax, Software engineering. OpenStax CNX. Jul 29, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10790/1.1
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